David Jolly’s hulking South Australian superstar Behemoth was too good again, dominating the 2020 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes results late off a luckless run with the top weight.

Behemoth (pictured in Adelaide) was too good for his rivals in the 2020 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes. Photo: Jenny Barnes.

Last time out the brilliant All Too Hard five-year-old celebrated is first elite level success with a big win in Caulfield’s Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at weight-for-age.

The team were confident in the horse’s ability and opted to run him at the same track and distance under handicap conditions instead of stretching him at a mile in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes at WFA again.

Behemoth gave the weight away to his rivals in the Sir Rupert carrying 60kg, but still went around the $3.80 favourite in betting to complete the Memsie – Sir Rupert double for the first time since Regal Roller (2004).

Ridden by last year’s Melbourne Cup winning hoop Craig Williams, who celebrated his 61^st Group 1 win, Behemoth had no luck in the run getting held-up throughout.

He managed to squeeze through late however and once the gap opened, he let down brilliant with the hefty weight producing a barnstorming late turn of foot for a superb victory for the favourite backers.

It was Williams’ sixth win in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes following his previous victories aboard: Barely A Moment (2005), Rewaaya (2006), Response (2010), Toorak Toff (2011) and Stratum Star (2015).

On the line Behemoth defeated the ultra-brave pacemaker Dollar For Dollar ($26) who nearly looked like going all-the-way in a massive upset before being passed by the top elect in the final few strides.

Stablemate Pretty Brazen ($10), a half-sister to Dollar For Dollar, on the quick back-up was also excellent again to give Tony & Calvin McEvoy second and third in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes trifecta, the Brazen Beau mare having won the Group 2 Let’s Elope Stakes (1400m) the weekend prior at Flemington.

A $6,000 bargain buy, Behemoth has now won more than $1.6 million in prize money and remains in contention for the Group 1 $5 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) at The Valley next month.

All-in 2020 Cox Plate odds – available in full here – at race sponsor Ladbrokes.com.au have Behemoth at $26.

2020 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes Results

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	1	BEHEMOTH	David Jolly	Craig Williams		5	60kg		$3.80F
	2	6	DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	Luke Nolen	1L	7	56.5kg		$26
	3	13	PRETTY BRAZEN	Tony & Calvin McEvoy	Luke Currie	1.1L	10	54.5kg		$10
	4	10	ACHERNAR STAR	Lindsey Smith	Jamie Mott	1.4L	1	55.5kg		$51
	5	9	REYKJAVIK	Lindsey Smith	Dean Yendall	1.6L	11	56kg		$41
	6	15	TAGALOA	Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young	Michael Walker	1.8L	12	54kg		$11
	7	16	BANQUO	Danny O’Brien	Jye McNeil	1.9L	6	54kg		$7
	7	7	MADAM ROUGE	Chris Waller	Ben Melham	1.9L	16	56kg		$21
	9	8	MANDELA EFFECT	Scott Brunton	Craig Newitt	2.4L	2	56kg		$51
	10	11	AGE OF CHIVALRY (NZ)	Mathew Ellerton & Simon Zahra	Damian Lane	2.5L	13	55.5kg		$10
	11	4	CASCADIAN (GB)	James Cummings	Damien Oliver	2.8L	8	58kg		$8.50
	12	5	SUPERSTORM	Grant & Alana Williams	William Pike	3.2L	15	57kg		$11
	13	3	BEGOOD TOYA MOTHER	Daniel Bowman	Declan Bates	3.4L	4	58kg		$26
	14	17e	HARLECH (NZ)	Michael Moroney	Michael Dee	3.5L	9	54kg		$26
	15	2	STREETS OF AVALON	Shane Nichols	Daniel Stackhouse	6.25L	14	58.5kg		$41
	16	12	DEBT AGENT (NZ)	Jim Conlan	Billy Egan	21.25L	3	54.5kg		$101
		19e	GOLD FIELDS	Logan McGill			0
		20e	RUNSON	Leon & Troy Corstens			0
		14	ROHERYN	James Cummings	John Allen		0
		18e	I AM SUPERMAN (IRE)	Peter & Paul Snowden			0

Table Credit: Racing Australia.